


Coat

by Aki_Saiko (saikowrites)



Series: Writober 2019 [27]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira accepts Igor's deal, Alternate Ending, Bad/Good Ending, Coat - Freeform, Inktober 2019, Introspection, Writober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 20:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21203618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saikowrites/pseuds/Aki_Saiko
Summary: Igor's offer sounds like a scam, and Akira has a mission to accomplish.But what if there's more to it?WRITOBER 2019 | Day 27: Coat | Based on the official Inktober 2019 prompt list.





	Coat

**Author's Note:**

> Probably one of the most difficult ones so far. I still don't know if I like how this turned out, but oh well.  
Hope you'll enjoy anyway!

Head spins, happenings slip from his hands. Skin burns under the dark leather of Joker’s coat and gloves creak following the frantic twitch of his fingers. Before his eyes, Igor’s body speaks in a deep, distorted voice, one he’s never heard in the almost-year he spent visiting the Velvet Room.

“I shall grant you an opportunity to make a deal with me,” the creature says.

His body stills. The word ‘deal’ echoes in his mind, pounds against his temples and sounds like a scam. What deal someone like fake-Igor could ever offer? Akira has been deceived once and won’t let it double. There is no reason why that… _thing_ would like to compromise with him. It talked about merits and extraordinary abilities, but what merit could exist in a game rigged from the start?

Akira doesn’t trust it. It would be too easy.

Yet, curiosity devours his innards and makes his tongue itch.

Hands run to his pockets.

“What is this deal?”

“Should you wish it, I shall return the world to its prior state – one rampant with distorted masses.”

Akira snorts, wonders how that is even possible. If it is possible at all.

Lavenza speaks, firm.

“You forcefully dragged him into the Metaverse and imposed an ordeal he did not deserve. Yet you still intend on toying with him?”

The weight of the mission that lead them through the hellish, deepest part of Mementos rests on his shoulders. They swore to fight indolence and free people from their burden; they ended up disappearing from the collective unconscious. He doesn’t even know where his friends are.

Akira grits his teeth. They fought hard; they risked their lives. People adored them. And turned their back at them. Sae should have been their last target. Then Shido. Then people’s collective unconscious. The ‘last’ never came, and they lost their lives and place in the world instead.

The thing continues his speech.

“The Phantom Thieves will be praised and gain fame. The world will escape ruin as well. What do you say?”

They already knew fame, it had been a warm light, so bright it ended up blinding them and exposing them to other’s plotting. Akira almost died because of the plotting. He doesn’t care about fame.

But if the world would escape ruin as well, what would be the difference?

Akira bites his lip.

Free will.

The one thing they all fought so hard for. The fire that powered their awakenings and the wish that guided them Palace after Palace, confronting enemies after enemies. First, they were only shadow, then society itself became an opponent. And, they sacrificed things for that society. Time. People, even. They thought it was worth it. Because they broke free from their chains and swore to oppose tenacious resistance.

But in the end, was there some guarantee?

His hands clench tighter in his pockets.

Society already let them down. 

He got arrested twice. Tortured. Escaped death. Lived a month with the looming terror of simply going out and get shot by Shido’s men.

He got arrested twice. He would probably be sent in jail a third time if he goes back in the real world. Because Phantom Thieves could change hearts and fight shadow, but they are powerless against law.

The weight on his shoulders turns to a burden.

Why him?

Deep down in that filthy prison cell inside Kamoshida’s castle, Akira voted his life to fight for what he believed was right, no matter the cost. He finally was a free spirit, a thief in stylish attire that knew no rule in the Metaverse; Joker’s coat was his second skin, his means to show the side of himself that was to be kept hidden in normal, everyday life. He vowed. Arsene’s voice still echoes in his head, ‘thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice.’

What is justice in the end?

Sojiro will still run the café, Sae will build her case against Shido, Mishima will continue to run the PhanSite. He helped them all, as bonds were his strength. They will be fine, he’s sure.

Not everybody will be fine, though. It’s in how society works. And that’s what the Phantom Thieves are for.

He straightens and lets his hands free. His coat, that had shielded his body from attacks, bullets, ambushes and life threats, shatters the burden.

Eyes narrow behind the mask.

“Very well.”

The thing chuckles.

“Our contract has been sealed, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> From now on, all the last days of this crazy writober will be P5-related! Yay
> 
> Previous work in the collection: Bravely Second - Dark - Edea/Ringabel  
Next one in the collection will be: Persona 5 - ShuMako


End file.
